DATE : 7.1.2008
SUBJECT : War

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Nonetheless, nuclear proliferation has continued, the U.S. and Russia even after the end of the cold war still have 20,000 nuclear weapons, progress may or may not be finally occurring on North Korean nuclear weapons and the potential of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons has led to talk of war. In 1986, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev nearly agreed to give up all nuclear weapons in their arsenals within a decade, which many in Reagan's conservative base considered lunacy at the time. However, currently, stalwarts of the U.S. national security establishment George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, William Perry, Sam Nunn and 14 other former secretaries of state and defense and national security advisers are calling on America to lead a global campaign to eventually rid the world of nuclear weapons. This includes banning all nuclear testing, taking American and Russian missiles off of hair-trigger alert and agreement on substantial reductions in both countries' arsenals. The group believes that the major nuclear powers must lead by example to have leverage to demand and persuade others to create a world free of nuclear weapons.

Do you agree with the numerous former U.S. secretaries of state and defense and national security advisers calling on America to lead in a global campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons by banning all nuclear testing, taking American and Russian missiles off of hair-trigger alert and agreement on substantial reductions in both countries' arsenals?